Indie Author S.L. Madden

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Don’t Judge A Book….

First off, I apologize for my absence. Isn’t it just like a guy to inundate you with love (NaBloPoMo), then disappear with nary a word? Well, rest assured, my time away was used well. Sort of.

First and foremost, I published Together Alone (see that bluish text? I can make a link because it’s an actual product now!). I had endeavored to have it out by 12/20, and I released it some time after midnight the morning of 12/21. So close! It was released with very little fanfare, with only a tweet and a Facebook posting to announce its availability.

Yes, six books in, and I still don’t have a firm grasp on the concept of marketing. When I should have been building up enthusiasm, performing interviews, offering giveaways, and soliciting reviewers, I was instead putting the finishing touches on it, then moving on to the next book. I like to think someday I’ll have so many books out, my presence will be hard to ignore, but until then, I continue to rely on word of mouth.

In this instance, however, it turned out to be a good thing, as I discovered once the book went live on Amazon, my cover just didn’t cut it.

This was my first time solely trying to do the cover on my own, and I rather liked the way it turned out. I always wanted the cover to depict hands reaching in, to signify both the strength of the demon army advancing on Averton, and the desperate plight of the citizens there. On my screen, it looked pretty good, but in the context of the thumbnail, it was hard to see the red hands against the dark background. In fact, it just looked like a black square. To make matters worse, the dark letters against the grey background were completely lost, making it difficult to read the name.

I decided to play with the image some last night, and I ended up really liking the results. I have yet to see it in thumbnail form (that will have to wait until I get home tonight for me to upload it), but I think it’ll be much easier to see. And it has some color to it, that I believe will make it pop.

Unfortunately, I didn’t receive any printed orders before changing the cover, or else the original version would end up being a rare copy. I didn’t even order one for myself, sadly. However, the ebooks from Amazon and Smashwords currently have the old cover. This time tomorrow (barring any unforeseen difficulties), the new cover should be available.